published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

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The interpretation of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectra to produce a 3D protein structure is a difficult and time consuming task. The 3D structure is important because it largely determines the properties of the protein. Therefore, knowledge of the 3D structure can aid in the understanding of its biological function and perhaps lead to modifications which have an enhanced therapeutic activity. An NMR experiment produces a large 2D data spectrum. The important part of the spectrum consists of thousands of small cross peaks and the interpretation task is to associate a pair of hydrogen nuclei with each peak. Manual interpretation takes many months and there is considerable interest in providing (semi-) automatic tools to speed up this process. The interpretation is difficult because the number of combinations can quickly swamp the human mind and the spectrum suffers from peaks overlapping and random noise effects. ASSASSIN (A Semi-automatic Assignment System Specialising In Nmr) is a distributed problem solving system that has been implemented in the identification of peaks associated with the hydrogen nuclei at the end of long side chains. These results are then passed onto the structural assignment stage. The structural assignment stage is a feedback loop which involves the interpretation of a spectrum and the generation of preliminary structural models. These models can then be used to simplify further analysis of the spectrum. ASSASSIN uses a constraint manager implemented in CHIP to analyse this data more quickly and thoroughly than a human. The results of this work reveal that a constraint based approach is well suited to the NMR domain where the problems can be easily represented and solved efficiently.

The relationship between the personality trait of openness to experience and problem solving ability in environments offering various levels of informational support in the form of analogous problems was investigated using 173 participants. I suspected the strongest positive relationship in an environment offering moderate support and that individuals who were high on openness to experience would be likely to see that previous presented information was analogous in nature. There was no relationship between penness to experience and problem solving ability as a function of the environment or in general. However, students given a high level of support solved significantly more problems than those participants receiving no support. Also, more students solved the problems when they saw an analogous connection between the experimental and the demonstration problems. An implication may be that problem solving ability can be taught using analogies, if the information is complete and students are able to determine the relevance to future problems. / Department of Psychological Science

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This thesis describes a study of novice problem solving in the domain of medicine. The study attempts to answer questions pertaining to the diagnostic accuracy, the generation and change of diagnostic hypotheses, and the use of clinical findings in the course of solving clinical cases with similar presenting complaints. Two specific issues are addressed: (1) how does the initial case presentation suggesting a common disease schema affect the diagnostic problem solving process of novices and intermediate subjects? (2) what are the processes the subjects used in coordinating hypothesis and evidence during diagnostic problem solving? / Medical trainees (students and a resident) were given four clinical cases to solve and think-aloud protocols were collected. The verbal protocols were analyzed using methods of protocol analysis. The results show that second year medical students interpreted clinical cases in terms of the more common disease schema, regardless of the initial presentation of the case. More advanced students, although unable to make a correct diagnosis in most instances, were less susceptible to such confusions. Only the resident was able to interpret the cases in terms of different disease schemata, reflecting knowledge of the underlying disease process. The semantic analysis of the protocols revealed that most students, especially at lower levels of training, misinterpreted or ignored the evidence that contradicted their initial hypotheses and made use of a mixture of forward and backward reasoning; a finding consistent with previous research. Implications for educational training and for a theory of novice problem solving in medicine are presented.

This thesis explores 'problem sketching' as a means of dealing with socially constructed, complex human activity problems. It investigates how visualisation is used to facilitate the process of thinking about complex human problems. The most common and popular form of problem sketching appears to be 'rich pictures' as attributed to Checkland from the 1960s, as a part of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM). However, many users of rich picturing no longer consider it as only available to SSM users, rather it has become a stand-alone, if poorly defined, problem sketching method. Meanwhile, in the U.S., Churchman's (1950, 1968, 1971, 1975, 1979 and 1982) interpretation of systems thinking as multiple perspectival thinking has also been advocated by many writers as a useful approach to human activity problem solving. This approach does not seem to have an associated problem sketching method. This thesis therefore uses perspectival thinking as a frame to research problem sketching generally and rich pictures in particular. / First a review of the problem sketching, perspectival thinking and rich picturing literature was used to construct an 'issues table' to guide the interpretive empirical research. The first learning loop of this involved being a participatory observer in six managerial problem solving sessions where rich pictures were used. The second loop collected and analysed as many rich pictures as could be found (268) using the issues table derived from the literature. As the last learning loop, 32 semi-structured interviews were conducted with users who had a wide range of different industrial backgrounds and levels of experience with rich picturing. / The research found no universal design of rich picture, including any explicit application of perspectival thinking in the picturing process. The picture analysis and interviews suggested that systems concepts such as stakeholders, their concerns and their inter-relationships were commonly incorporated while other systems concepts such as boundary and purpose were rarely incorporated. In addition, it was found that the designers of rich pictures were aware of the importance of seeking multiple perspectives on the problem situation, but rarely was any explicit effort aimed at searching for new viewpoints/lens revealed. So while both the picture analysis and interviews indicated that most pictures did include the basic elements of what some writers have defined as a rich picture, only a few seemed to explicitly include any soft system thinking concepts in their pictures. / Whiteboards and paper in group settings was the most popular medium, as was free-hand sketching compared to computer generated icons. The majority of rich pictures included cartoon representations and the interviewees further emphasised the usefulness of humour in cartoon-like rich pictures. Furthermore, a strong focus was found on the process of sketching rather than the usefulness of the finished sketch. A number of interviewees indicated that drawing rich pictures was a group facilitation activity, which helped them to brainstorm ideas and capture thoughts through a discussion focused by the picturing. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2004.